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1899 US Puerto Rico Peso Patterns by Morgan and Barber
Zoins
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How far did the US Mint get in making coins for Puerto Rico? Were plasters, galvanos, hubs, dies, or patterns made?
Here are some designs from Barber and Morgan. The scans are courtesy of The Puerto Rico Mint which has made some modern reproductions of these designs.
Also, did Puerto Rican coinage stay legal tender in Puerto Rico after it became part of the US? If so, should Puerto Rican coinage be considered US colonial territory coinage?
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Very Interesting! You learn something new every day. Thanks for posting this.
Interestingly, the reverse of Barber's design is very similar to Morgan's assay medal design originally used in 1899. I'm not sure which one preceded the other.....?
There are many more Puerto Rico coin sketches in the archives. There are several plaster models at the Philadelphia Mint. All are more or less derivative and follow similar paths as the Philippine coin reverses. Neither engraver seemed to have much interest in originality on these issues.
Figure 3 reverse dates from about 1896 and was used for the 1906 pattern double eagle struck to prove the concept of edge lettering as used on the first Extremely High Relief MCMVII patterns. It appears to have been prepared by Morgan, not Barber.
The seem no different than Philippine issues in their status as US Commonwealth or Territorial coins.
Wow! Never saw these before!
TD
I lived in Puerto Rico for two and a half years.... never saw anything but U.S. coins there.... Cheers, RickO
Puerto Rico held onto the PR Peso until 1902 when they were exchanged for dollars at a rate of 1 Peso = 63 cents.
That's very cool. Are there any photos available of the plasters?
Those, slightly redesigned would be good for modern coinage. Id love to see Liberty return to all coins again.
To see Liberty return to circulating coins, it may be good to reach out to Andy Barr (R-KY) who proposed a bill, H.R. 2535, to do just that.
"Are there any photos available of the plasters?" Not publicly as yet - but soon I hope.
I might have some of the sketches to post, but not sure. Many of my photocopies have not been digitized, and there are over 100,000 pages.
Good info. So the PR Peso would have been legal tender in the US territory at least from 1899 to 1902.
Looking back at my time in Puerto Rico, I was in a slow period of collecting. I wish I had asked some of the old timers I worked with about some of the old coins... bet that I could have acquired a few.... ah hindsight, always 20/20. Cheers, RickO
A donde se venden monedas antiguas?
@topstuf....I do not recall seeing any coins shops in Puerto Rico... I lived on the West side, Mayaguez, but frequently went to San Juan. Cheers, RickO
In Mexico, it used to be cab drivers who could ...maybe... steer one to wherever coins might be.
Now this was in the 1960s when Mexico LIKED gringos and would cater to them.
Sadly, the happier days are gone.
From what I gather, the ....AZORES...were the honey pot back then.
All the isolated trade from everywhere all meeting and spending in the Azores.